Last month York Region approved its Transportation Master Plan which guides transport policy.

It is updated every five years. 

It is heavy on roads. But what about rail?            

York Region and the transportation agency Metrolinx have an arms-length relationship when they should be blood brothers. 

They don't talk to each other.

I’ve been hassling Metrolinx for years. I am not a railway buff nor a trainspotter. I just know that the GTA needs a modern sophisticated GO rail network to move us all about, quickly, seamlessly, effortlessly and in comfort. 

Breakthrough

In August 2021 there was a breakthrough. Metrolinx announced plans to run a 15-minute service up to Bradford and that would mean that Newmarket, downstream, would get the fast trains too.

Yet this important announcement was nowhere to be found in the Region’s draft Transportation Master Plan. I was astonished and said so. I made the case to the Region’s Transportation chief Brian Titherington and, to my surprise and delight, the plan was amended to take in my concerns.

Now that the 15-minute service is in the plan we can start talking about how and when it can be delivered, and at what cost.

I have been pressing for a 15-minute all-day, two-way GO train service to Newmarket for years. (Go to ournewmarket.ca and type Metrolinx in the search box)

Transformational

I’ve watched politicians go with the flow when they should have been energetically making the case for fast trains. A 15-minute service would be transformational – getting people out of their cars and helping the environment.

The listless gradualism of our former Mayor, Tony Van Bynen, now our MP, was particularly hard to take. Seven years ago (on 9 November 2015) he was saying things like this:

“In my own mind the difference between a 15 minute and 30 minute service doesn’t change the world immensely although I think eventually we’ll need to get there. But I’d rather see us easing into that, responding to the demand as we go forward.”

That was his reaction to the planned 15-minute service stopping in Aurora.

This kind of whispered advocacy takes us nowhere.

If we are going to get a 15-minute service to Newmarket we’ve got to make the case and demand it.

Now.

Gordon Prentice 4 October 2022